Nathan is our June 15, 2014 pup or the week

Usually I do my Sunday blog about a dog who has recently joined me at the Bridge, or is in need of prayers to keep them from our gates.  This week’s pup Nathan is healthy, but unless he gets a last second miracle he could be joining me at the Bridge very soon.  This is Nathan’s story

Nathan was rescued, as were so many dogs before him, by my friend Wishbone’s savior (and first real Mom) Paula Malatesta.  Numerous pups, and their owners, owe Paula for the love they share.  But now Paula is in ill health, having suffered the latest of several heart attacks, and no one can assure how many days this wonderful woman who devoted her life to saving us souls who commit our lives to humans, has left on the mortal side of the River of Life and before she passes over she has one final mission:  To save Nathan.

Nathan is a treewalker coonhound from North Carolina who is either five or six years of age and weighs in the vicinity of 80 pounds.  He is neutered and up to date on his shots.  He is a couch potato, and while he is very vocal, (a bark collar or some training may be needed but he is an excellent guard dog) he is a sweet baby with  no aggression issues whose loves to snuggle, although he would do better in a house with older kids familiar with dogs, and should be fed separately (and less, he has a few extra pounds.)   . He does bark at strangers but soon becomes bored with them and leaves them alone.  While he is not a threat to anyone some socialization might be needed.

Paula’s and Nathan’s fates are tied together.  Where she comes from dogs are mere possessions that can be discarded on a whim with the government an all too willing accomplice.  And that is not the worst fate Nathan could meet.  If their mortal lives don’t end at the end of a needle they end as a bait dog.  So Paula made provisions, knowing that Nathan could meet a very bad end, that when she left the mortal side of life, Nathan was to follow.

Posts about Nathan have been posted and cross posted with no luck.  So I am doing what I often do, hoping, begging, pleading for a miracle.   If everyone could reach out to any rescues they know, or anyone looking to adopt a mature dog, and let them know that Nathan needs a new home maybe we can fulfill Paula’s last wish.

Plus we need plenty of prayers for Paula and Nathan.

Please just this one little miracle and I promise I won’t ask for another one for at least a week.

Puppy, Wishbone, Zafaria, Duke, and the Paula Malatesta Pack are our January 23, 2011 Pups of the Week

I would like to tell you all that I remember every blog you have all written.  Of course, no one can.  Not even humans.  Humans stand in bookstores studying the back covers of books trying to determine if they have read these 440 pages before.  But there are certain blogs:  Moses, Tanner, and others going to the bridge that stick with you, plus some very special stories.  One such story concerns one of the members of the Pack the make up our Pups of the Week:  The Malatesta Clan.

Wishbone was rescued from a hunter who found him worthless because he was not a good hunting dog.  Well, the Pack's Mom, Ms. Paula, had a different plan, and she rescued Wishbone from that bad man.   But Wishbone, being a free spirit, made a run for it one day.  Ms. Paula was heartbroken.  But she never gave up hunting down this hound.  On a Sunday, leaving church, she saw Wishbone, ran after him, tackled him, and rolled down a hill with him, holding on, then safely got him in the car and home.  After reading that story I said wow, now that's a Mom.

Ms. Paula is a superhero for dogs.  If you are trapped in a puppy mill you dream of Ms. Paula coming zooming through the night, taking out those bad people who are holding you in a small cage filled with fecal matter next to stale water, taking you with her, staying with you, and finding you your forever home.  She doesn't make it to every dog.  But she wants to, and that is what matters the most.

You could say that we could just name this Mom of the Week, and it would be fitting.  But bark yourself this.  Why?  Why would a woman devote her life to this?  All I can figure is that somewhere in this special woman's life she must of had a least one, but more than likely dozens, of wonderful pups who inspired her.

One of the dogs she named The Dude perhaps after Jeff Bridges' pot smoking slacker from the Big Lebowski.  This pup had no chance of surviving the kill shelter it was in.  But Super Paula swooped in and saved The Dude.  For two years she fostered The Dude, never giving up on him, even when two families brought him back.  Finally The Dude has a new home..  Who has such patience to never give up on a dog even after two years?

In the first week of the year she drove to Greenville N.C. and rescued 14 dogs.  That's 14.  Some were puppies: but 14, that's more than a football team.  She put them in her van and took them home.  My parents can't manage 14 fish in a tank.  14 dogs?  But what do you expect from a superwoman?

Then she got called out to rescue a Pit Bull named Skunk.  That doesn't seem like a good combination.  She got there but the pit bull had been rescued.  So she still rescued some Boston Terriers who had their tickets punched for the bridge.  Two more dogs rescued by Super Paula.

Just how special is Super Paula?  She went to a farm to rescue some pups to find only two of them not killed by their owner.  One of the two, Zafaria was terminally ill.  Instead of having the pup put down she put her on chemotherapy to save her life, then took her to senior citizen homes so she could pay forward the love and life she got from Paula.  She doesn't just save pups, she brings joy to the elderly through these pups.

And she is having a wonderful effect on our Moms and Dads.  I am seeing more and more of them sign up for doing transports or fostering pups.  Even Daddy has signed up for transports although he hasn't done any yet.  Of course, given our Daddy's driving, the pups may be better off taking their chances with the farmer and the gun

Last week, in my recommended blogs of the week, I linked to a site about the dogs of Brazil.  The authors of this blog have been severely effected by the floods in Brazil.  They have been traveling around their neighborhood trying to help the dogs who were abandoned or lost their families and are starving or sick.  The streets are full of them.  It is a truly tragic situation.  I know if she could, Miss Paula would be down there fighting for those dogs too.  If you would like to read the blog click HERE

So let's raise a paw to the pack that we respect the most, the pack we would like to be when we grow up, the pack that we wish we had the strength and passion to be, the pack of the week, Puppy, Wishbone, Zafaria, Duke, Khan, all the other wonderful dogs who are, or have been part of their pack, and the wonderful Mom Ms. Paula.